The week of September 12, the North Carolina General Assembly is expected to reconvene in special session to take up a measure that would give the electorate of this state an opportunity to vote on the much debated question of marriage.

North Carolina remains the only state in all of the southeastern United States that has yet to enact a Marriage Protection Amendment in its Constitution. Without it, the state is extremely vulnerable to court or legislative actions that could provide for a definition of the institution as something other than its traditional one.

Gay marriage is now legal in Iowa, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and New York, states that didn’t have Marriage Protection Amendments. And, what has happened in these states heightens the urgency for North Carolinians to place marriage’s true definition of one man and one woman in its Constitution – an act that will prevent it from being subject to the whims of future judicial or legislative redefinition.

Baptists have always believed in God’s model for marriage as described by the Genesis account, where Adam and Eve, two similar but distinct creatures, male and female, made after God’s image, were joined together for a permanent union. It was this model Jesus blessed at the wedding in Cana and endorsed when asked questions concerning marriage in Matthew 19:4-6.

For centuries, Baptist pastors performing this rite have declared it the foundation of home life and social order, exhorting that it must so remain until the end of time.

But who would have imagined a day when there would be a concerted effort to redefine the fundamental building block of society to include same-sex relationships? Some now contend marriage is essentially a private affair, created by two people for personal reasons, deserving of a license by the government to obtain certain legally recognized rights. Thus, to favor one kind of personal relationship, heterosexual, over same-sex relationships, they argue is inherently discriminatory.

The historic and biblical view, however, recognizes marriage as designed by God not simply for private purposes, but for the public’s good. Government has a vested interest primarily because every male-female nuptial has the potential for children, either biological or adopted, and societies need babies. Social research overwhelmingly demonstrates children are most apt to be successful when raised by both a mother and a father in an intact family. Therefore, without a healthy citizenry that can reproduce and provide a stable, productive and balanced workforce, the culture’s future is bleak.

Make no mistake; if matrimony is redefined to include same-sex couples and the government’s favor for traditional marriage is erroneously deemed discriminatory, it will mean the beginning of the end of the nation’s best support system — the traditional family.   In places like Norway, which has had de-facto same-sex marriage since the early 90s, marriage is quickly becoming irrelevant.

Anthropologist Stanley Kurtz notes that in that country “we are peering as far as we can into the future of marriage in a world where gay marriage is almost totally accepted. What we see is a place where marriage itself has almost totally disappeared.” Nothing can effectively substitute for civilizing and focusing men on productive pursuits, protecting women, mothers and children from violence and economic harms, while encouraging an adequate replacement birth rate as marriage.

Moreover, the links between the dissolution of marriage and rising illegitimacy levels are profound. Frank Turek notes that in Norway, “where they fly gay ‘rainbow’ flags over their churches, illegitimacy has soared – nearly 70 percent of all children are born out of wedlock.”

Illegitimacy not only produces a less than favorable environment for children to grow up, but consequentially adds significant social and economic burdens for any society.

With considerable certainty, the failure of the traditional family will also precipitate a severe curtailing of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The most important assignment of the family has not only been to propagate the race, but to hand down the faith to children. Malachi 2:15 instructs husbands and wives, “Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring.” Few things stifle the ability to pass the gospel down to the next generation than the loss of God-fearing families. This accounts for much of Christianity’s decline throughout Western Europe today.

This is to say nothing about the numerous ways the ratification of same-sex marriage will clash with religious liberties and the church’s ability to spread the truth, just as its legalization already does in places like Canada and Sweden. If Baptists in the Tar Heel state really believe marriage originated exclusively as one man and one woman, if they are genuinely concerned the foundation God ordained for home life and social order remains in law until the end of time, then at this juncture in history they will have to vigorously defend it. That includes zealously expressing their support for a Marriage Protection Amendment to their state lawmakers before they return to Raleigh on September 12.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Creech is executive director of the Christian Action League of North Carolina, Inc.)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) – At the North American Mission Board (NAMB) luncheon prior to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting in Phoenix, I shared some important statistics about the state of SBC church planting. Let me share more here.

LifeWay Research, in its Viral Churches research, examined church planting strategies and the effectiveness of all Protestant denominations. Leadership Network invested heavily (more than $100,000) in the research. As you can imagine, it was an enormous project.

While doing the research, which was at first a private report, I listed the denominations and groups that were strongest and those that were struggling in church planting.

Later, Warren Bird – the director of research and intellectual capital at Leadership Network – and I published the research project in the book Viral Churches.

We discovered and subsequently reported that the SBC is not one of the leading denominations in church planting. Facts are our friends, but some people in the SBC mistook my honesty for disloyalty.

Well, NAMB has now publicly stated that it is planting at a rate “under” 2 percent. Maybe facts really can be our friends.

The reality is that our numbers tell us that we are not particularly effective at church planting. Let’s take two examples for comparison.

As a denomination, the Assemblies of God has 12,457 churches. Last year, they planted 325 churches. A few years ago, I had the privilege of spending two days with the Assemblies of God leadership, helping develop their strategy that later became the Church Multiplication Network. They have increased their planting to one new church a day. Their rate is about 2.6 percent (up from 2 percent in 2008 and 2.1 percent in 2009).

As we will see later, the Assemblies’ rate is 50 percent more than what is found in the SBC. They have opened the first part of 2011 with 177 new churches, tracking at a 3 percent pace, or almost twice the SBC rate.

Steve Pike, national director of the Assemblies’ Church Multiplication Network said to me in a recent email: “We’ve actually decided to have a holy dissatisfaction with a 3 percent rate.

Citing the 3 percent number as a “break-even” pace, he said, “That’s why our near-term goal is 500 churches a year – it increases our pace well past the 3 percent break-even level.”

Let’s look at a Baptist group with even more impressive results. The Baptist General Conference (also called Converge Worldwide) planted 64 churches last year in a denomination of 1,150 churches — a rate of 5.5 percent.

In the NAMB presentation at the SBC annual meeting, NAMB President Kevin Ezell announced that NAMB can say with certainty that 769 churches were planted in the SBC this past year.

Since we have 45,727 churches, that means we planted at a rate of 1.68 percent last year. Therefore the SBC is almost a percentage point less than what the Assemblies of God does and about a third of what the BGC does. (Or, put another way, the Baptist General Conference planting rate is more than 300 percent that of the SBC’s.) The SBC is below the rate that most scholars think is needed for basic growth, which may contribute to our membership decline.

In light of the current church planting numbers, it makes little sense to say that “NAMB talks too much about church planting.” If anything, all of us should hope to talk about it as much as NAMB.

We have a long way to catch up with other evangelicals, but that is not my goal. It just helps us to define reality. That reality is that we cannot reach North America (and the world) without a more aggressive church planting engagement.

My hope is that NAMB will keep pushing us. We have not even begun to be as serious as evangelical groups like the Assemblies of God and Baptist General Conference.

So why should everyone in the SBC be concerned about church planting? Even those who are not directly involved with it will experience a benefit.

As I mentioned, the Baptist General Conference is planting churches at a much higher rate than Southern Baptists – and guess what? – they have almost doubled the size of their denomination in the last 20 years. In case you are wondering, the SBC potentially would have 30 million members right now if we had that same focus. Can you imagine the implications of a giving, going and growing SBC with more than 30 million members? Friends, communities and nations would be impacted for the glory of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ!

I have a deep appreciation for those groups who are acting upon their convictions regarding church planting. But I’m not headed over to those denominations. However, I share the same “holy dissatisfaction” with our current realities as Steve Pike and the Assemblies of God do about theirs. And I am dreaming about what God could do through the SBC when we get serious about planting churches. Press on, NAMB.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Stetzer serves as the vice president of research and ministry development for LifeWay Christian Resources.  This item is part of a package of stories highlighting planting multiplication church ministries across the state. The Biblical Recorder is focusing on the Seven Pillars for Christian Ministry adopted by the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. For more stories on church planting or to find out about the entire package, please visit here.)

It can be lonely out there. When a new church is begun, its pastor may sometimes feel isolated, especially during the initial months.

Planting new churches is a high priority for Southern Baptists, who are committed to planting record numbers of them, especially in highly populated, under-reached cities. Your small encouragements could make a huge difference to a church planter in North America.

As a member of a Southern Baptist church, you are already involved in church planting. For example, your church’s contributions through the Cooperative Program and Annie Armstrong offering helped support more than 750 new church plants just last year.

Would you go a step further and personally encourage one church planter? Here are a few tips:

Find one. Be intentional about knowing and befriending a church planter and his family. If your church sponsors a new church, intentionally get to know that planting pastor. Otherwise, ask your pastor or a denominational leader to recommend a church planter. You can meet planters at your state or national Baptist convention. Click “mobilize me” or study the map at namb.net.

Be an encourager. Study the church’s newsletter, blog or website. Give relational support. Let the church planter and his family know you care. Send email encouragements. Take him to lunch. Ask how things are going and how you can pray for him. Listen well to discover needs and opportunities. Offer practical advice when asked. Be available if he needs you. Brainstorm with him. Enthusiastically praise God for blessings and pray with the planter about challenges.

Share your resources. Has God gifted you with things that could be shared to help the church? Could they use your home for a Bible study? Your pool for a fellowship? Your lake home for a planning retreat or pastor getaway? Loan your tent or trailer for an event. Connect Christian friends who might offer aid, such as a banker, carpenter or accountant.

Share monetarily. Your tithe, of course, is given to your local church, but God may prompt you to give an additional monthly offering, like $20 or $200, to a church plant. Consider a one-time offering for a specific item, like a coffee pot, advertisement, or a down payment for land. Do they need Bibles, audiovisual equipment or furniture? Encourage the planter pastor with a bookstore gift certificate or scholarship to attend a conference, Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, or seminary class.

Share yourself. Show your personal support by visiting the church plant’s worship service occasionally. Offer your skills and talents. If the church is in another state, can you organize a mission trip for an outreach event, survey or building project?

A new church needs a quality core group. If God leads, would you relocate to the church plant area to help for a few years or months? If God calls you, He’ll provide a way. As your church and denomination send new church planters, will you personally encourage just one of them?

(EDITOR’S NOTE – Davis is an author, speaker and wife of the North American Mission Board vice president for the Midwest region. Visit her website, www.keeponshining.com. She and her husband have helped plant several churches.  This item is part of a package of stories highlighting planting multiplication church ministries across the state. The Biblical Recorder is focusing on the Seven Pillars for Christian Ministry adopted by the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. For more stories on church planting or to find out about the entire package, please visit here.)  

In April 2006, North Carolina Baptists welcomed Milton A. Hollifield Jr. as their executive director-treasurer. To this key place of leadership, Milton brought a deep passion for reaching North Carolina with the gospel of Christ. He quickly challenged North Carolina Baptists with the vision, “By God’s grace, we will become the strongest force in the history of this Convention for reaching people with the message of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,” and he identified church planting as a key pillar in accomplishing this God-given vision. Under Milton Hollifield’s leadership, North Carolina Baptists have focused on “Planting New Multiplication Churches.”  

The need for new church plants Researchers tell us 5.6 million lost people call North Carolina home; that’s 5.6 million of your friends, co-workers and neighbors. This mass of lost humanity comes from countries all across the globe. According to the North Carolina State Department of Education, 240 different languages are spoken in the homes of school children in our state. God has truly brought the nations to North Carolina, and North Carolina Baptists have the Great Commission responsibility to share the message of the gospel in the heart language of these precious people and to disciple them within the context of a local church. That’s where church planting comes in.  

Since 2006, the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (BSC), working with Baptist associations and church planting networks across our state and utilizing your sacrificial gifts through the Cooperative Program and the North Carolina Missions Offering, has facilitated the planting of 496 new churches. Many of these new churches were launched specifically to reach the ethnic populations in our state.  

For instance, in 2010, the BSC facilitated the planting of 125 new churches. A total of 96 of these new church starts were non-Anglo congregations and currently your church planting consultants are working with church planters from 34 different countries. Through church planting, North Carolina Baptists are reaching “the nations” all across our state. While we do focus on ethnic church planting, we certainly are not forgetting our Anglo neighbors who need Jesus. Last year, 29 new churches were planted to reach Anglos across our state.   Through the evangelistic ministries of our ethnic and Anglo plants North Carolina Baptists celebrated more than 2,800 professions of faith in Jesus!    

The blessing of faithful, Kingdom-focused church planters    
North Carolina Baptists are blessed to partner with some of the finest church planters in the Southern Baptist Convention. These God-called men are passionate about reaching their communities with the life-transforming message of the gospel. They have a heart to fulfill the Great Commission by making disciples of Jesus Christ.  

Each planter funded by the BSC affirms the theological tenants of the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, does not consume or condone the use of beverage alcohol and commits to lead his church to give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering, and the North Carolina Missions Offering. In addition, all funded church plants commit to tithe their undesignated offerings using the formula – 5 percent to the Cooperative Program, 3 percent to a Baptist association or church planting network and 2 percent to church planting endeavors of the plant’s choice. Your church planters use wisely the Cooperative Program dollars North Carolina Baptists sacrificially give to underwrite their evangelistic ministries. Anglo church planters and most ethnic church planters are now funded by the BSC using a “strategy-based funding model.”  

This funding model calls for the planter to present a three-month evangelism strategy for the BSC to consider funding. If the strategy is approved, funds are provided. At the conclusion of three months the effectiveness of the strategy is evaluated by the planter and a BSC church planting consultant. If the planter has proven effective in implementing his strategy he may then present an additional three-month strategy for funding consideration. This process may be repeated for up to 24 months. The “strategy-based funding model” helps to ensure that the Cooperative Program dollars of North Carolina Baptists have maximum Kingdom impact.

The need for partnering churches
God has certainly blessed the church planting efforts of North Carolina Baptists. He has blessed us with your financial gifts through the Cooperative Program and the North Carolina Missions Offering. He has blessed us with God-called, faithful, dedicated planters. He has blessed us with an outstanding team of church planting consultants who faithfully train, mentor and guide our church planters.   

However, there is one critical church planting “need of the hour.” Your church planters desperately need North Carolina Baptist churches to step up to the plate as “partnering churches.” Your church planters need your church to come alongside for encouragement, for ministry assistance, for financial resources but most of all for prayer support.  

They need you to join hands with them and help them reach pockets of our population that are not being reached with the message of the gospel. Together, established churches and new church plants can reach this state for Christ.  

To find out how your church can specifically partner with a new church plant, call the BSC church planting team at (800)-395-5102, ext. 5552, and let us help you begin the journey of a lifetime!    

(EDITOR’S NOTE – Register is executive leader of church planting and missional development at the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. This item is part of a package of stories highlighting planting multiplication church ministries across the state. The Biblical Recorder is focusing on the Seven Pillars for Christian Ministry adopted by the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. For more stories on church planting or to find out about the entire package, please visit here.)    

Chuck Register’s recommended resources  

• Church Planting Movements: How God is Redeeming a Lost World by David Garrison Legacy Churches by Stephen Gray and Franklin Dumond
• Planting Fast-growing Churches by Stephen Gray and Trent Short
• Viral Churches: Helping Church Planters Become Movement Makers by Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird

I’m not talking about the earthquake that rattled America’s East Coast the other day – though it symbolizes other forces currently shaking things up.

Financial markets lurch up and down with the latest bit of hopeful or gloomy news, while a dazed global economy hangs on for dear life. Once-stable governments in the so-called developed world, including our own, struggle to contain deep social and economic divisions tearing at the foundations of their nations. Flash mobs randomly assault people on the streets for fun and profit.

Long-term regimes have fallen – or are falling – in the Middle East and North Africa, but no one is sure what will follow them. Perhaps something worse? Scenarios range from a new dawn of freedom and democracy to the rise of Islamist theocracies across the region.

“Things fall apart; the center cannot hold,” W.B. Yeats wrote in “The Second Coming,” one of the most-quoted poems of modern times. “Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, the blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned....”

We can hope “mere anarchy” holds off for a while, but things sure seem to be falling apart, for better or worse. Of course, things always seem to be falling apart. That’s the problem with supposedly indestructible human institutions: They aren’t.

A recent newspaper editorial discussing U.S. defense requirements argued that many military bases overseas “serve little purpose in a post-Soviet world.” The writer thoughtfully added an explanation for those who might be puzzled by the word “Soviet”: “The Soviet Union was an empire of communist states in Eastern Europe, led by Russia, that constituted the principal enemy of the U.S. in the second half of the 20th century.”

Here was an imperial colossus that bestrode half the world for generations – and periodically threatened the rest with nuclear extinction. It crumbled only 20 years ago. Yet the editorialist feared, probably with good reason, that some readers are so historically uninformed or forgetful that they wouldn’t know the Soviet Union had ever existed. “Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” thundered King Ozymandias of old – long forgotten except for his shattered statue, half-buried in the desert sands.

Even the seemingly eternal institution of bribery in India, as predictable as tea and the rising sun, trembles before the protests of one man, Anna (“elder brother”) Hazare. An ascetic who has galvanized the nation in recent days through his Gandhian tactic of fasting for change, Hazare calls for a “second revolution” to rid Indian society of corruption.

“Graft has long wracked India’s public life and society, running the gamut from small-scale bribes to the police in exchange for dispensing with traffic tickets to massive payoffs to politicians and political parties to acquire complex weapons systems,” the journal Foreign Affairs reports. “The country’s citizens have frequently complained about this malaise but have rarely, if ever, resorted to organized public protest to register their frustration and anger about this pervasive phenomenon.” This time, many are joining Hazare to demand real change.

Nothing is permanent in human affairs. Changing an institution is pointless, however, without changing hearts. The new institution inevitably sinks into the same swamp as the old.

No wonder Jesus Christ refused to be pressured into leading a political or revolutionary movement to liberate the Jewish nation from the Roman Empire, as some misunderstood His Messianic mission to be.

“My kingdom is not of this world,” Jesus said when He stood before Pontius Pilate, Rome’s military prefect, before His crucifixion (John 18:36a).

“So you are a king?” Pilate asked.

Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (John 18:37, NASB).

Our mission as His followers, then, is to proclaim His truth in every culture and give every searching heart the opportunity to hear His voice. The millions who search for something permanent in this ever-changing world deserve to know there is a Kingdom that will outlast the stars.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Bridges is a global correspondent for the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Visit “WorldView Conversation.” the blog related to this column. Listen to an audio version.)

NEW ORLEANS – God has allowed me the privilege of serving three church plants in 15 years of ministry. I have served in various roles in these, from staff pastor to lead pastor. While all of the church plants have given to the Cooperative Program (CP) in varying amounts, promotion of the CP has been a constant goal (and joy) for our church members.

Being a professor and church planter, I believe I have a unique perspective concerning the promotion of the Cooperative Program. As a professor, I see more and more seminary students who are not familiar with many of our Southern Baptist mission-funding programs. As a church planter, I see the challenge of educating new believers in showing them the genius of cooperative funding of missions through CP.

Following are some simple suggestions for how church planters can promote the Cooperative Program in a joyful way in their churches as we work to fulfill the Great Commission together.

1.  Start early in promoting the Cooperative Program. From the start of a new church plant, it is important to help new believers and members understand what the CP is and how it works. At my current church plant, we start in our new members class by telling them about the CP and how our church gives. We show members how even though we might be a small church plant now, our money combined with other small church plants (and churches) can have a large Kingdom impact.

2. Show the results of CP giving. Many people in today's generation don't care about the process of CP money collection and disbursement. I have found that by emphasizing the end results of the CP, people are more receptive to learning. We have had great results by explaining to people how their money goes to help international missions, local missions, disaster relief, etc. By seeing their money in action and knowing the end results, I believe people are more likely to give and support the CP.

3. Explain the Kingdom impact at a local, national and international level. The trend nowadays is for church plants to keep funding at the local level because they are able to see a direct impact in their community. Yet, churchgoers also have a heart for helping when they see both national and international catastrophes occur. We can show our members the incredible advantage of the CP. Even with a small amount of dollars, a church can have a local and global impact, from their own communities to the farthest countries of the world.

4. Share the joy of giving a "tithe" of the church. In our church plant, I explain that giving to the CP is our church's "tithe." Just like individuals and families give a tithe and offering for the blessings God has given, so our church gives a "tithe" for the blessings God has given us. We then share stories of how God has used our tithe and offering to make a Kingdom impact. Stories connect to the postmodern generation because it connects people to the impact of their giving. The more stories you share, the more joy you may see in your congregation's giving.  

In the current church setting where so many organizations and networks are vying for the attention of our church offerings, I pray these simple suggestions will help influence Southern Baptist church plants to support perhaps the greatest missions-funding strategy the world has ever known – the Cooperative Program of the Southern Baptist Convention.

(EDITOR’S NOTE – Brooks is assistant professor of theology and Islamic studies at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and founding co-pastor of the Mosaic Church in New Orleans. This column first appeared at SBCToday.com.)

MARIETTA, Ga. – With both anticipation and nostalgia I listened to Bryant Wright, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, tell how he and Tom Elliff, the International Mission Board's new president, each had been led by the Spirit of God to challenge Southern Baptist churches to embrace the world's remaining 3,800 unengaged, unreached people groups at the 2011 SBC annual meeting in Phoenix.

While many think embracing a people group will entail an immediate trip overseas, quite often the first step is commitment followed by much prayer.

The nostalgia at the SBC meeting came because in 1989 Bill O'Brien, a vice president of the then-Foreign Mission Board, visited Johnson Ferry Baptist Church to talk to our pastor, Bryant Wright. I remember being called into the conference room to hear the discussion because we had established a focused prayer ministry a few years earlier and I was the prayer coordinator. If this commitment was made, the prayer ministry would help carry the responsibilities to ensure church-wide participation.

The more I heard, the more intently I listened. This was no ordinary prayer request.

We were looking at committing to a people group that was not only unreached, but also unreachable due to the "Iron Curtain" in place at the time. This was an opportunity to be stretched into believing that God was up to something and was inviting us to join Him in prayer. With growing excitement, I agreed to do whatever it would take to help get everyone praying for our new group.

When we got our people group assignment, we couldn't even pronounce their name, let alone spell it. So we got out a world map to find where these people lived. While they seemed strange at first, over time and with faithful installments of information from the mission board about our group, we became more familiar with them.

At least once a month as we received information, we printed a bulletin insert and took a special time during worship services to pray for our people group. We prayed for them around the clock in our 24-hour prayer room. And we began to discuss them and pray in our Sunday School classes.

The World Day of Prayer and Fasting for World Evangelization on June 1, 1990, focused our people group, the Kirghiz people of Asia. We were praying but we were not alone, and it was exciting to realize that adopting a people group is indeed a "group" project. When we responded to our God-sized assignment, He was simultaneously calling out others as well.

With all the extraordinary prayer God was drawing from people around the world, He granted the fall of the Soviet Union. That new open door allowed for an exploratory trip to be taken from Johnson Ferry in 1991. Groups began to go, including medical teams to host clinics and business training teams looking for open doors for the gospel. By the fall of that year, interns from Kyrghizstan were invited and brought to Atlanta to have hands-on training with business men and women in our church. With all this interaction, our people group really became tangible to our church and God opened many doors for the gospel to be shared.

Fast forward to 2011, and the ripple effect is still being felt in Kyrghizstan where indigenous, growing churches are reaching their own country for Christ. We are so glad we stepped out in faith to pray for what God wanted us to do and obeyed His call to adopt and partner together to reach an unreached people group. Just the other day at lunch a church friend told me that two Kirghiz women, both Christians now studying in the United States, came to Christ on one of our mission trips to their people group. They are eternally grateful that we cared about them.

Now with this new call to the SBC, our Sunday Bible study class is praying about embracing a people group. We are large enough to be a small church and interested enough to trust God to do it again!

I hope you, too, will pray about embracing an unengaged, unreached people group and see what God will do through you and your church.

(EDITOR’S NOTE – Elaine Helms was the national prayer coordinator on staff at the North American Mission Board from 2000–10. She is the author of "Prayer 101" and is now director of Church Prayer Ministries (www.ChurchPrayerMinistries.org) in Atlanta. To learn more about the International Mission Board's call to embrace an unengaged, unreached people group, go to www.call2embrace.org or call toll-free 1-800-999-3113.)

RICHMOND, Va. — In Syria, Muslims seeking to pray in some cities are dodging shells lobbed at their mosques by the military.

In other Muslim-majority nations swept by recent political change, the hopes raised by the “Arab Spring” are sagging in this summer of doubt and fear about what will happen next as factions struggle for power. “Now Yemen, Libya, Syria, Egypt and Tunisia are all (attempting) similar transitions — at once — but without a neutral arbiter to referee,” observes Thomas Friedman. “It is unprecedented in this region, and we can already see just how hard this will be. … (T)he new dawn will take time to appear.”

In Somalia and its neighbors, meanwhile, masses of Somali Muslim refugees are unwillingly observing a grim Ramadan fast: famine-induced starvation.

Ramadan, the annual month of dawn-to-dusk fasting observed throughout the Muslim world, began Aug. 1. This year, it found millions of Muslims struggling for political freedom, for a better future — or for basic survival.

But Ramadan itself calls Muslims to higher things, things beyond this material world. “Ramadan helps us become conscious of our souls,” explains one Muslim. “Fasting helps us to separate ourselves temporarily from our worldly needs and pursuits so as to become aware of higher needs and pursuits.”

So why should Christians care about a Muslim observance? Because Ramadan is a priceless opportunity to lift Muslims in prayer to God — and to love them in action by His grace — whether they live across the globe or right next door.

The month of fasting isn’t easy, even for Muslims who don’t face political turmoil or life-threatening hunger.

“It is a time when Muslims try to spend more time focusing on (Allah) and learning about patience and humility,” says a Christian worker in South Asia. “We have seen the opposite effect as the month wears on for the millions around us. There are often fights in the traffic jams as people’s patience is frazzled by lack of food and water. There is also the feeling by many that they just are unable to keep the fast and are therefore unable to please (Allah). Pray that Muslims … will realize their deep need for a Savior. Pray that they will experience the grace and love of God that will forever replace the rules and works of man.”

Make no mistake: Many Muslims eagerly want to know more about Jesus.

A college student from my church has spent the summer ministering to Iraqi Muslim refugees in the Atlanta area. In the course of providing practical help, she’s had many opportunities to share stories from the Bible about Jesus and His Lordship.

Nearly everyone listens; several have decided to follow Jesus as Lord.

One 22-year-old Muslim “jumped into this spiritual discussion with us the first time we met him,” my college friend related. “I told him the story about when Jesus calmed the storm. He listened very quietly and was very curious. Once I was done, he said something we’ve kept in our minds: ‘Why do Christians only tell other Christians about Jesus? They should teach the followers of Islam these things, because the Christians already know.’”

Good question. Whether believers assist Him or not, however, God is moving among Muslims.

In Washington, D.C., a group of Christians regularly visits shopping malls to share the gospel with Muslims. Yet after years of ministry, they “have yet to find a church, of any denomination, who will partner with them,” says a longtime worker among Arab Muslim peoples. “Without a doubt, there have been more people incited to pray, and they are praying.” The net result is that, even in the absence of Christian obedience on the part of many churches to go and make disciples of all peoples, “God is still working and calling Arab Muslims to follow Him in greater numbers than at any other time in history.”

He speaks through His followers when they are faithful to lift Him up. He speaks through His Word. And He speaks through dreams and visions, as countless testimonies from throughout the Muslim world continue to confirm. Here is an account of one such dream from a Kashmiri Muslim woman in India who now follows Christ:

“I was in a beautiful garden, and an old woman dressed in white came up to me and said, ‘Come with me.’ She then took me to a place where I saw Him … Jesus … dressed in white and glowing with love for me. He hugged me and took me in His arms. He set a crimson rose in my lap and then said to me, ‘You are my daughter.’ And all I could do was cry. Then I turned around and saw a huge crowd of hundreds, thousands, all coming to be baptized.”

During the closing days of Ramadan, and particularly on the “Night of Power,” (Aug. 26 this year), many spiritually hungry Muslims will stay up all night, seeking divine forgiveness and praying for a vision. Ask God to answer their prayer with a vision of Jesus, the “man in white” so many other Muslim seekers have encountered. Pray that they will hear His unmistakable voice calling them to Himself — and that they, too, will follow Him.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Bridges is IMB global correspondent. Visit “WorldView Conversation,” the blog related to this column. Listen to an audio version. For videos, stories and other resources exploring how to love and pray for Muslims, visit http://www.lovingmuslims.com.)

LONDON — “Please, sir, I want some more.”

Who can forget these haunting words of a desperately hungry 9-year-old boy in Charles Dickens’ novel Oliver Twist?

The story is a powerful condemnation of 19th-century England’s social and economic injustices, London in particular, including child labor and the cruel treatment of children. Children of the day often were put in workhouses, abused and starved. The novel provides a graphic description of what it’s like to be hungry.

Hunger is awful, and starvation is even worse, often ending in a slow and painful death. People hunger for different things. On one side it could be for social justice and equal opportunity. On the other, it could be for the smallest morsel of food, followed by a precious sip of water.

The effects of either can lead to panic. The desire for “more” can be fatal.

Having recently moved from Africa to the United Kingdom, I saw both happening at the same time. While tens of thousands of young Brits rioted in the streets of England’s cities, thousands of refugees at a camp in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu rioted, fearing food meant for distribution was being stolen by government troops.

In England, rioters escaped with looted computers and large-screen, high-definition televisions. In Mogadishu, seven refugees on the verge of starvation died trying to safeguard food that would save their lives.

Photo by S. Kurganti (Used with permission) People on the street near Hackney Central station confront the police.

Images of both crises are etched in my mind. Hooded youth pelting armored policemen while cars and buildings burn in the background. Emaciated children and dead cattle on the dusty roads of Somalia.

Is one situation more urgent, more critical, than the other, I wonder? Some would scoff that I even ask the question.

“There is no comparison,” said Tim Costello, CEO of World Vision-Australia. What he sees is a generation of youth in a first-world country who have a warped sense of entitlement while, in the Horn of Africa where Somalia is located, millions literally face starvation if something isn’t done immediately.

Costello said, “You just want to shake (the rioters in England) and say, ‘Get some perspective!’”

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that 13 million people in the Horn of Africa are hungry and undernourished, while 3.5 million face starvation in Somalia. The WHO calls it the region’s worst drought-related famine in 60 years.

At the same time, Sky News analyst Ed Conway said that, in economic and social terms, “London has been a tinderbox for some time.” Of course “London” can be broadened to include multiple urban centers of the UK.

“There’s no one root cause for the riots across the country,” Conway said, “but a range of economic indicators often associated with social unrest have been on the rise.”

News articles identify youth unemployment, income disparity and lack of education opportunities as some of the catalysts behind the rioting in England.

One thing is certain: Both the UK and Somalia face long-term problems with no easy solutions. There is hunger in London and there is hunger in Mogadishu. Both are wanting, if not desperately needing, “more.”

Jesus, noting a hunger and a thirst that only He can satisfy, calls His followers to action.

Jesus indicates that to go about His Father’s business is to share living bread and living water that satisfies a spiritual hunger that is deep within all humanity. At the same time, He demands that we offer a cup of water to the thirsty and provide clothing to the naked. Thirty-three-year-old Zimbabwean immigrant Paul Machaka, who came to England in 2001, said, “People can try to take the situation into their own hands, but at the end of the day they can’t create real change. Real change comes from God. Answers are found in Him.”

So is the “more” they are looking for.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Braddix is a writer for the International Mission Board based in the UK. For information about reaching London with the Gospel, visit adoptlondon.com or check out the 2011 International Mission Study on London at wmu.com/london. To help victims of the famine in the Horn of Africa, visit imb.org.)

As a student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, I remember my former and now retired professor of Christian education, Edward Buchanan state that sometime in the 1960-70’s, church-life witnessed senior pastors divorcing their ministers of education (ME) and marrying ministers of music. This statement made sense to me then and still resonates with me today as I continue to observe that many small to mid-size churches hire music ministers as their first choice when creating a new position in church staff to fill.

Just think about how many churches in our denomination which are solely composed of a full-time pastor and part or full-time minister of music.

Now this is not a bad thing as music is a very important item in the life of a church. However, I am writing this article in hopes of inspiring a resurgence in Christian education and in hopes of sparking more of a balance in the church’s love and appreciation for the fields of music and education.

One reason I recognize that such an imbalance exists in the church’s love for music and education is the lack of awareness by the church for what a ME is and for what a ME does.

Nearly any church member can identify what the responsibilities of a music minister include, however most church members are in a state of limbo when it comes to understanding the duties of a ME.

I hope the description below will help unaware church members understand and appreciate the field of Christian education more. A ME can be a pastor’s best friend!

A ME is content with playing second fiddle. A ME is a jack of all trades and a master of none. A ME has to be able to work with people of all ages as a ME may be found in the nursery changing diapers or on a bus driving a load of senior adults on another ministry outing.

Above all else, a ME is a teacher of teachers. If called upon to preach, a ME may be able to, but his primary calling and gift is that of a teacher.

ME’s are often known to lead the Sunday School (S.S.) department of a church and the church’s Sunday School planning team (composed of the S.S. director, preschool, children, youth, and adult leaders). ME’s lead efforts in renewing church library usage as well as take a lead role in the spiritual development and formation within the life of a church. ME’s help with establishing mission education programs in the church such as RA’s and GA’s and Youth on Missions.

ME’s begin all types of new classes such as new member, new believer, financial stewardship, marriage, discipleship, and the latest in men and women bible studies.

With the amount of biblical illiteracy present in America today, ME’s are needed now more than ever. A ME can bring much new life and excitement to a church. Most church members enjoy new learning opportunities and this is exactly what a ME brings to the table.

Next time your church is planning on creating a new staff position to fill, would you consider adding a ME?

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Dougherty is associate pastor of children, youth, and education at Franklinton Baptist Church. This item is part of a package of stories highlighting strengthening existing church ministries across the state. The Biblical Recorder is focusing on the Seven Pillars for Christian Ministry adopted by the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. For more stories on strengthening existing churches or to find out about the entire package, please visit here.)